Let He Who Is Without Sin (MTMTE DJD AU) - Teaser
by LiaDospetti
Summary: What if Megatron had given up on his plan to extinguish the DJD with antimatter and tried a different, more compassionate (yet just) approach, instead? What if he had tried to be for Tarn/Damus a mentor (and father figure) like Terminus had been to him?


(…)

"Initially, I wanted to shut you down with antimatter, stripping you of the names that made you someone feared across the whole galaxy."

Sitting on the bench in the space room, Megatron and Damus were talking again, but the DJD leader wasn't handcuffed this time. Megatron had given orders that from now on, until he was with him, that security measure was no longer necessary.

"And then let you die without dignity," Megatron continued, "just like you did with many of your victims."

Damus listened to Megatron but he didn't dare to look him in the eye. His gaze moved from Megatron's hands to his own.

"But then I thought," Megatron said, "that if I did that, I would be exactly like you, and that's not who I want to be… anymore. Especially, not after the compassion I've been shown by the others, the second chance I've been given, no matter how it will end."

Arms crossed, holding tightly onto himself, Damus looked away and kept his head low. "So you did it for _you_, after all. To redeem yourself. Because you're an Autobot now."

"Yes, but that's not the only reason. There are many more."

The purple Decepticon lifted his head just a little, to look at Megatron with confusion in his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

Megatron smiled and all Damus managed to reply with was a sigh. "You make it look like you care, but I know it's nothing but a _deception_."

"What if it was all true?"

Damus didn't know what to answer. Confusion and fear were taking over. If only he could have a sip of Nuke right now...

"I've been caring for a while," Megatron reprised. "Even while I still saw you as a means to an end, slowly… I began to care. To think of you as my student and no longer as a tool to reach my scopes. It's why I wanted to meet you privately before you and your troops attacked us."

That was too much for Damus' Spark. "If you _really_ cared, you wouldn't have turned your back on us! _On me!_"

"I never did. I turned my back to my evildoings, to the corruption… not the cause, nor _you_."

Megatron stood up and Damus looked at him like he was about to collapse. Fear and distress were taking over.

"Come here, Damus."

Damus didn't move. What was this about?

"Don't be afraid."

He didn't want to feel that longing. Yet he felt it. He always felt it, from the very start of everything about Megatron. He knew, deep down, that this was _all_ it had always been about. So it didn't take too long for him to finally get up and come closer to Megatron, who had his arms open.

Damus let himself fall onto Megatron's chest and rest his head there, while Megatron surrounded him with his arms.

"I know who's _my_ Tarn," Megatron said, almost in a whisper, "he's Damus, the kind Spark who used to work alongside Orion Pax and cared deeply about his team. My Tarn is the fragile bullied boy, the one who suffered from Empurata and from mockery. The one everyone feared for his gift. My Tarn's also the DJD leader who secretely hid behind the mask when he couldn't tolerate seeing his victims suffer or die, because he was never the violent type, you see - my Tarn didn't even touch his victims. His weapon always worked from a distance. Sometimes… sometimes he would even try to reassure his victims, giving them a dignified death. Unless he was running high on the Nuke, oh yes – then things got bad for everyone. _Very_ bad."

Damus found himself squinting in distress. "Megatron… why do you do this…?"

"Because the Damus in you never died. Because I care about him. I care about you."

And that was when his Spark couldn't take it anymore. Damus curled up in Megatron's arms and let his hero hold him close, the way that he had seen Terminus holding Megatron close when he first arrived on the ship.

_to be continued..._


End file.
